It’s probably fair to say that Ryan Day is the first coach in college football history to amass a 61-8 record, yet still have something to prove. And it’s not just nationally, but with his own intense, and occasionally desperate, fan base.
It’s never easy succeeding a larger-than-life legend, a bill that fits Urban Meyer. So Day knew the challenges that came from the advantage of getting the keys to the Buckeyes Lamborghini.
He’s been derided as being born on third base by getting Ohio State as his first head coaching job, but he’s a former New Hampshire quarterback who overcame, at age 9, the death of his father by suicide, to grind his way to the top.
Six seasons in, Day, 45, has succeeded. Well, except for the part where some people point more to those eight losses than those 61 victories.
Day is 1-6 against teams in the top five of the College Football Playoff rankings. He is 1-3 against Michigan overall, including losses in each of the last three years. He is 1-3 in the College Football Playoff.
Ohio State has a reputation for steamrolling weaker opponents. Day has never lost to an unranked team and is unbeaten against every Big Ten team that isn’t located in Ann Arbor. That’s not nothing.
It even can beat the occasional highly ranked team, but the joy seems not to last. In 2020 it took down Clemson in the College Football Playoff … only to get blown out by Alabama in the title game.
Last season it won late at Notre Dame, which was No. 9 at the time, but no one was overwhelmingly impressed because the Irish rarely win big ones either and Day spent the postgame seemingly challenging Lou Holtz to a fight.
And so, even as Ohio State (5-0) has blown out Akron, Western Michigan, Marshall, Michigan State and Iowa to the tune of 230-34, there remains doubts both in Columbus and across the country.
Sure, the Buckeyes can be bullies, but can they bully a bully? Can this team win it all?
No. 3 Oregon awaits Saturday in Eugene, a seemingly fair fight for the Bucks. It’ll count in the race for a Big Ten title, a playoff berth and playoff seeding. And it will count on the reputation, both near and far, of Ryan Day.
“A lot is at stake this weekend, which is exactly the way we want it,” Day said.
Nothing will be decided on Saturday, but it’s fair to watch and wonder. If not this year, then when? If not with this team, then why not?
The Buckeyes are always talented and Day has proven to be every bit the elite recruiter, especially nationally, that Meyer was. Yet as good as the roster always looks, this year is something else.
During the summer Meyer declared this “might be the best roster in college football in the last decade.” As bold of a statement as that was, nothing it has shown so far suggests Meyer is wrong.
Ohio State followed the Michigan playbook this year in using NIL money to encourage NFL-caliber players to skip the draft and return to campus for a national title run.
That meant guys such as running back TreVeyon Henderson, cornerback Denzel Burke, wideout Emeka Egbuka and defensive lineman J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer — among others — all came back from an 11-1 regular season team.
Then Day hit the transfer portal to add quarterback Will Howard (Kansas State) and more running back depth in Quinshon Judkins (Ole Miss).
The Buckeyes’ two best players are actually newcomers — safety Caleb Downs, who arrived from Alabama after Nick Saban’s retirement, and true freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, who Ohio State beat Miami and Florida State to sign last February.
It’s a breathtaking collection. Anything can happen in Autzen Stadium, but one of those “anythings” is a show of force that has the rest of the country sitting up and wondering if Ohio State can be beaten. The Buckeyes are 3.5-point favorites.
So Day walks into another big game projecting confidence. He likes to say it’s about Ohio State, not who Ohio State is playing. Internally, he’s likely correct. Externally though?
“I think you always try to make sure you identify the things that fit the team,” Day said. “You know, all of a sudden you don’t just change because it’s a quote-unquote big game. They’re all big.
“If we say it’s about us all the time, then it’s about us in the games like this, which it is. So we’re going to continue with the same routine.”
Ryan Day has done a great job at Ohio State, just not great enough for some. On Saturday, he’s got the stage to begin to prove himself capable of reaching that final level.
He’s certainly got the team to get there.